The Progress of Version 0.3 (22 July 2022: Enemy Patrols and Ransoming Prisoners) (Patreon)

Greetings Conquerors!

This week we'll go over something that seems basic but really adds a lot in the department of "feeling" like you are actually in a war.

ENEMY PATROLS

When you first make your faction, you will notice notice something new as you move through the holds: the Imperials and Stormcloaks will now march patrols through their holds as if they are actually in a war zone. 

Each patrol is lead by a commander and is comprised of 20 troops each. The faction who the patrol belongs to depends on which faction has land superiority in the hold that they are in. If you attack a patrol before you declare war on the faction, they will consider it as an act of war and a war will begin with the faction you attacked. In the picture above, my faction technically owns Dawnstar, but the Imperials have taken land superiority in the Pale, pushed out my armies, and are now patrolling it to defend against my inevitable invasion to take it back.

These patrols can also be ambushed by an army that is following you. This is what makes the mod start to make you feel like an actual war. For example, if you're in a forested area, you can sneak up on a patrol and surprise them.

Patrols are actually registered as part of a greater army in the mod so once you defeat a patrol, the Imperials will actually lose the troops in the region and it will be easier to capture it and take land superiority.

When you have killed most of the soldiers in the patrol, there is a chance that the remaining troops will surrender to your forces. When this happens they will stop fighting and you will have captured them. 

RANSOMING PRISONERS

Any prisoners of war that you capture will start following you until you decide what to do with them. The quickest way to get rid of them is to ransom them off by talking to your General.

Right now the money you get back is 5000 gold per Commander and 200 gold per Soldier/Archer. I may change this in the future.

This mechanic opens up a new way of making gold! It in turn created a way to do a bandit playthrough where you can ambush patrols and ransom their troops back for easy profit.